Reb Neuberger: VAYEIRA

 The Most Holy Seudah 

Each week, Am Yisroel is elevated through holy Shabbos seudos, which transport us to the level of angels and beyond. 

The concept of seudos, which connect this world to the infinite, is rooted deeply in Jewish history. This week we read about how our Father Avraham ran to serve three angels! 

What did he serve them? Tongue with mustard! (Bava Metzia 86b)

I will never forget my visit to Seattle, Washington in 1983. It was a mission of chessed on which I accompanied someone who faced a major medical challenge. We took a taxi from the airport to the home of our hosts, the legendary baalei chessed and tzaddikim, Joe and Adina Russak, may they rise ever higher in the World of Truth! (Among other notable descendants, the Russaks were the grandparents of the revered Rabbi Eytan Feiner shlita”h, Rav of the White Shul in Far Rockaway, N.Y.) 

Since it was Thursday night, Mrs. Russak was cooking for Shabbos. This was over forty years ago, but I can still taste the beautiful aroma emanating from her kitchen! What was she cooking? She was imitating Avraham Avinu and preparing tongue with mustard! 

Chazal (Maseches Shabbos 117b) teach us that that we must eat three meals on Shabbos, based on the possuk in which Moshe Rabbeinu uses the word “hayom … today” three times to describe the manna which had fallen Erev Shabbos: “Eat it today, for today is a Shabbos for Hashem; today you shall not find it in the field.” (Shemos 16:25) 

How important are these meals? 

“Whoever fulfills [the precept of eating] three meals on Shabbos [will be] spared from three misfortunes: the birth-pangs of Moshiach, the judgment of Gehennom and the War of Gog Umagog.” (Shabbos 118a)

Wow! This cosmic statement should make us pause and gulp. This is the power and reward for keeping Shabbos correctly.

My dear friends, last year we witnessed an unforgettable tragedy in Eretz Yisroel. As you will recall, the year 5784 began when Rosh Hashanah fell on Shabbos, meaning that we could not sound the shofar on that day. You may recall that my beloved chavrusa, Reb Shaul Geller shlita”h, referred to the passage in the Aruch LaNer, who wrote that a year in which Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbos has historically been either a year of sublime greatness (like the year the Mishkan was inaugurated) or a year of catastrophe (like the years of both churbanos)! 

The idea is that shofar blowing is deferred on those years because of our observance of Shabbos. Therefore, depending on how Am Yisroel are observing Shabbos at that time, the quality of that year is affected. When we keep Shabbos as we should, it will be a great year … and similarly the converse, G-d forbid. 

It is mind boggling to contemplate the effects of keeping Shabbos correctly. 

At this moment in history, we desperately need all the zechusim we can accumulate in this world. How can we protect ourselves? 

Shabbos protects us. As we say Friday night, “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who spreads the shelter of peace upon us and upon Yerushalayim.”

My friends, please forgive me, but I believe there is an aspect of Shabbos which tends to be neglected, and I feel it is within our reach to correct this. I am speaking about the Third Shabbos Meal, Seudah Shlishis or, as we like to call it, “Shalosh Seudos.” I feel as if this – which may be the most important -- is the “neglected” meal of Shabbos. 

It is undoubtedly a challenge, as are all madreigas of kedusha. We often have little appetite at Shalosh Seudos. Sometimes, we do not prepare this meal the way we have prepared so magnificently for the First and Second Meals. Sometimes, we hurriedly place plastic utensils and packaged salads on the table at the last minute, as if this meal does not require the attention the other two meals receive. Especially now, when we have just changed the clocks, the Third Meal comes quickly after the Second Meal. 

And yet …. let us think about what is at stake.

I remember hearing the great posaik Rabbi Yaakov Zev Smith shlita”h discuss how we should have in mind during the Second Meal to prepare for the Third Meal by not overeating, in order to have an appetite for Shalosh Seudos. Indeed, the Chofetz Chaim states, “One should be very scrupulous in holding the Third Shabbos Meal.” (Mishna Berurah 291:1)

I remember well, some forty or fifty years ago, when our family was new to Yiddishkeit, we were privileged to spend a Shabbos in Borough Park and I was taken for mincha to the tisch of the revered Rabbi Moshe Bick zt”l. As the sun went down and shadows lengthened, we heard his holy words and sang the emotional zemiros of Shalosh Seudos. To this day, I love those zemiros, which refer to the seuda of “atikah kadisha … the Ancient Holy One,” during which we are closer to Hashem’s Presence than at any other time during the week.

“Though I walk in the valley overshadowed by death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me” (Tehillim 24) At that time, we ask Hashem to “show love, for the time has come, and show us grace as in days of old.” (Yedid Nefesh) This is the moment of supreme closeness. As darkness falls, we express our love to the Master of the Universe. This is the culmination of Shabbos. 

Our beloved son-in-law, Rabbi Yaakov Koppel Slatus shlita”h, Rav of the Kehillah of South Whitesville in Toms River, New Jersey, sent me the following from the Avudraham: “Shabbos is referred to as a ‘Kallah,’ a gift to Klal Yisroel, who is the ‘Chosson.’ The first Tefillah (on Friday night) is ‘Atah Kidashta,’ which refers to Kiddushin, the first level of connection to Shabbos. The next Tefillah is ‘Yismach Moshe,’ which alludes to the Simcha of the Chosson and Kallah, a greater level of connection to Hashem…. [And] the last tefillah is ‘Atah Echad,’ which [we say Shabbos afternoon and] alludes to the ‘Yichud’ of the Chosson and Kallah, which is the highest level. This is why the Seudah of Shalosh Seudos is considered the most holy, because it is the Seudah of our deep connection to Shabbos.” (Seder Tefillas Hashabbos 9) 

This theme is echoed in the writing of Rabbi Shimshon Pincus zt”l, who writes that “the kedusha of Shabbos is like a ladder with three rungs. As Shabbos goes by, we climb the ladder to higher levels ….” Rabbi Pincus also writes that “the Tur compares these three levels to the three key Shabboses in history: the Shabbos of Creation, the Shabbos of Matan Torah and the Shabbos of Moshiach…. Shabbos afternoon [is compared to] the time of Moshiach.” 

“Shabbos afternoon is the third and highest level…. That’s why we have Seudah Shlishis, a time when we start to return to the weekdays, so to speak [and] kedushas Shabbos starts working on our shortcomings and spiritual declines. We start … correcting things and setting them right…. This is why Shabbos afternoon corresponds to the Shabbos of the time of Moshiach …. [which] will rectify the sin of the Golden Calf. It will perfect the world. This is the nature of Seudah Shlishis. It is the time that straightens out our lives… This is the time to work on keeping Shabbos with us all week: the Oneness of Hashem which we recognized on Shabbos should accompany us during the weekdays. This means living with the underlying truth of Hashem’s Oneness (which is emphasized at the end of Shabbos): Hashem Echad U’Shemo Echad.” (Nefesh Shimshon, Shabbos Kodesh, Ch. 12, Feldheim Publishers)  

My dear friends, in the merit of the Holy Shabbos, may we merit Divine Protection and the Shabbos of Moshiach soon in our days! 

*Please daven for a refuah shelemah for Noach ben Mindel, who needs our tefillos*

Seattle Skyline

Tongue with mustard

Rabbi Shimshon Pincus zt”l

GLOSSARY

Baalei chessed: people who do acts of kindness toward others

Chavrusa: Torah study partner

Chessed: an act of kindness

Churbanos: the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem

Daven: pray

Madreigos of kedusha: levels of sanctity

Mincha: the afternoon prayer

Mishkan: the Tabernacle erected in the Biblical Desert

Refuah shelemah: complete recovery 

Seudos: sanctified meals, such as those we eat on Shabbos (Singular: seudah)

Tzaddik: a holy person (pl. tzaddikim)

Zechusim: spiritual merits

Zemiros: ancient songs sung at the Shabbos table